Galland the Lucky
Galland d'Arria, more commonly known as Galland the Lucky, is a human swashbuckler moonlighting as a world-travelling explorer, trying to experience every fantastic story he heard while growing up as a street-rat in Prospero. Having grown up in an anti-magic city before been set free upon the world, he is now fulfilling his childhood dream of learning to use magic, although he still retains the idea of magic as something taboo from his childhood. He knows nothing of his lineage, having been raised in a small band of gambling ruffians in the back-alleys of the city. A hefty debt inspired Galland to leave port aboard the Windcaller with a crew of discrete traders, who found his skills useful and his fugitive status unalarming. After discovering that Captain Veidt was in fact a druid, Galland finally began dabbling in magic, spent a long time with pirates, and then became an adventurer. Galland is now a bonafide Acid Ascetic.__TOC__ Appearance Galland is a suave human wearing decorative, pirate clothes in favor of armor, wielding a rapier and heavy shield. His hair and eyes are black, and he is tanned from his time aboard the Windcaller. As of late, due to his greater-than-frequent use of buff magic, he is developing an unsightly skin condition. Personality Galland has a strong spirit of adventure, and is compulsively drawn to the most exciting-sounding of his options. He is never beyond finding something nice in an unattended pocket, but is a friendly and positive person who would never think of fighting someone without a reason. He is excited to finally have magic, but primarily sees it as a free way for him to shoot up. Although a follower of St. Cuthbert in name only for most of his life, he has recently received a surge of faith in St. Cuthbert and has become a devoted follower. Abilities Galland is a melee fighter who specializes in moving into and out of combat while remaining in a safe position when not actively fighting. Outside of combat, he is suited to diplomatic transactions and interactions. Weaknesses Galland is addicted to buffs. It is both fortunate and unfortunate that he can funnel ALL of his spells into Cat's Grace. History Galland was not born lucky, a fact that he has fought throughout his life. Despite never knowing his parents, he was raised by a back-alley gang of gamblers and scoundrels in Prospero to be a gambler and part-time thief. He spent most of his time on the docks with the incoming crews, who were always happy to find somewhere to gamble. Growing up, his childhood dream was to learn magic and visit all of the fantastic places he heard stories of from the sailors he met; living in Prospero kept both of those in the back of his head as fantasies, however. As he got older, Galland discovered the advantage buff potions provided to his innate gambling prowess, as increased luck and intelligence allowed him to often greatly improve his earnings. Eventually, however, he found that he was spending more on the potions than he was earning from them, but could not go back. This amounted to an expensive addiction rather quickly, and the addiction manifested itself in the form of debt. It is, in hindsight, fortunate that it was a small-time thug who first tried to collect on part of Galland's debt, since the encounter was manageable while still providing the jarring realization that Prospero was no longer safe. Using as many of his connections at the docks as possible, Galland secured a job on the first ship leaving port: The Windcaller. With the testament of several of her "sailors" as to his ability, Galland was welcomed aboard and assured an active role in the trading business. Upon meeting Captain Veidt, Galland learned that he was now working aboard a pirate ship, which pleased him and explained the descriptions he had been given by the men who spoke for him upon joining. Upon leaving port, it was revealed that Captain Veidt was a druid of enough skill to merit a ship named the Windcaller; despite a relatively windless day, the ship was quickly directed by a friendly and oddly steady breeze. Galland, fascinated by someone who freely cast magic, immediately set out to see what he could learn from Veidt. While not especially apt at magic, he did begin to pick up some basic spells from watching Veidt and asking too many god-damned questions, which gave him something to think about during days of work on the ship. He began imagining ways to work it into the street-scuffling he had always been used to, using cantrips to distract his opponent or enhance his natural abilities. He was limited only by the fact that almost everything he practiced had no application unless he was fighting something, and theoretical planning only provided so much intuition for how things would work. Once his crew was attacked for the first time, he had a chance to make a lot of revisions to his idea of how things would work. Two days south-east of Port Brogan lay the Island of Wonders, once home to a cave said to hold a powerful artifact, but recently inhabited by one son of Prospero's Elfwyn Casino, Kai Vaseri. Captain Veidt directed the crew there on the information that Vaseri had gone to the island to hide from something, and had brought with him to the Island of Wonders a great sum of money, which Veidt believed would be better suited to the crew than the prince. Upon landing on the island, the crew at first found no signs of habitation, and was disheartened to find their information to be false. A search of the inside of island, however, revealed that what appeared to be a collapsed cave entrace actually had a second entrance that showed clear signs of use. On investigation, this entrance proved to lead into a series of catacombs full of what appeared to be volcanic stone. A few rooms in, Veidt, First Mate Ranas, and Galland were caught off-guard by a pair of misshapen skeletons who caused much alarm but little trouble. After gathering a larger party and returning, the crew was ended up fighting its way through a cave system full of the byproducts of failed necromantic experimentation, and eventually came upon Kai Vaseri himself. To no one's surprise, he had come to the island to practice his necromancy away from the city, and was the source of the undead the crew had faced. He bargained for his life, claiming that he had little money but would direct the crew to what he had in exchange for his life. After taking all of the gold and anything valuable-looking from his stash, the party tied him up, stole his wand and robes, and left the island behind as quickly as they could, sailing north towards another island that Veidt believed to have valuables. Over the course of the next 5 years, Galland spent his life adventuring as part of Veidt's crew and seeing many interesting things he had never imagined, fighting all manner of people and beasts, and eventually finding a mixture of fighting and magic that suited him quite to his liking. Galland's final adventure with Veidt was intended to be the interception of a transport ship (the Brazen Bowl) rumored to be carrying an amount of money much larger than any self-respecting pirate would pass up. Unfortunately, that was exactly what three other pirate crews (the Black Fog, the Hard Bargain, and the Infinite Horizons) thought about such a prize, turning what would already have been a difficult assault into a battle royale. Amidst the clash, one of the pirate ships was sunk, and the transport ship itself was sunk, and the Infinite Horizons fled, leaving the Windcaller and the Black Fog split between firing at each other and scrabbling to salvage as much of the sinking treasure as possible. Amidst the conflict, Captain Veidt was killed and his corpse was lost to the sea. When it was clear that the treasure was lost, now-Captain Ranas Firehart had the crew set sail for the nearby Port Brogan. Upon landing, Galland decided it was time to explore more options in life, and parted ways with the crew on good terms and better financial footing than he entered it, having acquired a reasonable share of findings over time and gained himself a set of equipment that he had hand-chosen from their loot. In the 6 years since leaving the Windcaller, Galland has traveled the Southern Continent and joined various adventuring parties, exploring anything that sounds interesting and searching for something to guide him in life. He gained some minor nortority after being hired by Majlis Al-Jinn to explore Malagassy's famous Cave of Despair and bring back the Glorios Scarab, a task he completed with great difficulty. At present date, Galland is exploring the area of Benin Falls, an area linked to more of the adventure stories he has heard than any other location in the plane. With the Party Galland was inducted into the party when an opportunity presented itself to get paid for relaying information a distance of 20 feet. Never one to pass up easy money, he took the opportunity and then informed the party of his success. Before he could be congratulated or properly rewarded, he was thrust into the middle of a larger fight than he had anticipated, piquing his interest in the group he had stumbled upon. As a character drawn near-compulsively to action and excitement, he chose to stick with the party when offered a prospective job. After spending several weeks feeling at home on a ship again, he encountered demons for the first time, and learned that they were just as scary and dangerous and stories had led him to believe. After coming within inches of his life multiple times during his encounter with the demons, Galland has resolved to find ways of better protecting himself in combat, and has turned even more heavily to his buff magic addiction in an attempt to console his shaken self. As a result of fighting demons, Galland has become a hero of Nyasa City who is known to be devoted to St. Cuthbert and recognized as a self-sacrificing individual. Relations Ashra Puzzle-solver: The leader of the company, and the person in charge of what he does while with the party. So far, he has given Galland no shit about being so frequently under the influence of Cat's Grace, which is a great quality in an employer. Leilah: The only person to help Galland get a buff fix during his time in a party. This is worth karma. Cicero: Is more fabulous than Galland (possibly a first), which is always interesting. Also, he is in charge of money, which is another point in favor. Rostan: Despite being Galland's first contact with the party, Rostan does not have an outstanding reputation in Galland's mind. Mainly because Galland has ONLY seen him fail at things. Faust: As the guy in charge of showing Galland cool magic, Felix Fineas Faust is a bona-fide Pretty Cool Guy. Tamiko: No significant interaction yet. Reon: IDKWTF. Category:Player Characters Category:Southern Continent People